My arrival to Maryland My furniture finally arrived in NJ on Tuesday, and we had the movers put most of it into a 10x20 storage unit at a local self storage facility. It's surreal looking at almost everything you own packed as a giant brick. And this brick would have been larger if we didn't wind up getting rid of a lot of clothes and unused furniture, picture frames, etc... Moving is definitely a good way to get rid of the clutter that creeps into your attic and basement.
I have to take a moment to comment about the movers we used, Tobin and Sons, who is an authorized Bekins carrier - they were fantastic. There 4 movers to help pack up the truck in MA and 2 movers to help unpack the truck in NJ, and each one was a pleasure to work with. They were thoughtful, considerate, efficient and experienced - highly recommended!
We drove down to MD on Wednesday during a torrential downpour, taking 2 cars loaded with enough stuff for my wife, daughter and I to live comfortably at my mom's for the new few months. It was a quicker drive than I had anticipated, about 3.5 hours - and we had timed things just right so that my daughter slept for 2 hours of it. The rest of Wednesday was spent unloading the cars and getting settled in (i.e. hooking up my PC, connecting to the cable modem, checking email and Groove).
Thursday was my first day in the VA office - for those of you who didn't that Groove Networks had a branch office in VA, it can be found here. I was forewarned about the traffic I would hit from 7-9AM, but I didn't realize how bad it would really be. It was horrible. I am used to a 30 minute commute with no traffic, but apparently such a commute is impossible when you have to take I-270 and I-495 (aka the outer loop). The 20 mile drive took over an hour. Once I reached work, I was again forewarned about the traffic I would hit from 4-6PM. Needless to say, in the evening I had the pleasure of another hour long drive to get home.
Friday was my next day in the VA office - I attempted to "beat the system" by leaving at 8:45 AM so that I would hit the HOV lanes right at 9AM. Well I screamed down I-270 and speedily hit the traffic that was present I-495. Ugh! The radio station I was listening to reported not one, but two accidents on the outer loop. So I crawled my way to work in a little under 2 hours. As the evening approached, I decided to be a smarter commuter, so I started to watch traffic cameras that are posted all along I-495. I law traffice moving at a decent pace around 5:45PM, so I left work in the hopes of making it home in less than an hour. An hour later I was half-way home, stuck on I-495 (a 6 lane highway) with about 1000 other commuters, most of whom were trying to squeeze onto I-270 (a 3 lane highway). I managed to catch pockets between cars here and there, and surpisingly make it home by 7PM.
I just gotta find a better way to commute, so this weekend I am either going to study a map to find alternative routes to/from work, or I am going to break down and get a GPS navigation system so that I can find detours as I drive.
11:01:39 AM 
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